We are not slumlords

Let me begin by saying that I am married to a "slum landlord" and I do take issue with what was stated in a recent Sound Off.

I would like to ask this person if he or she can imagine how hard some "slum landlords" have worked in order to purchase rental properties in the hopes that the income from them will help in their retirement years only to find that, with the downturn in our economy, it is barely worthwhile.

Why? Because it is a rarity when someone moves out without owing two to three months rent. Why? Because the courts give these deadbeats way too much time to vacate a rental and then it takes two weeks to clean out the filth left by the former tenants, who leave without paying their utilities or even picking up the garbage that they leave behind. Walls kicked in, plumbing disabled, stoves so filthy they have to be replaced, animal smells everywhere, commodes un-flushed, and I could go on and on.

Believe me, one reason they are "slum landlords" is that the people living in their rentals live like slummy people.

Once upon a time, we could rent to people who had pride in the way they lived but, alas, that seems to be a thing of the past, and resentment toward the person to whom they should pay their rents is what results in comments such as those in the Sound Off.

It is hard, hard work being a landlord, and the only things we ask is that they take care of the properties and that they pay their rents when due. Why is that so difficult to understand?